Intransience

By Michael Vides (gailecaitiff@gmail.com)

Intransience is a physical discipline, much in the same way as Celerity, Potence and
Fortitude. Whereas Fortitude represents a vampire’s ability to shrug off damage that
would otherwise cripple or even kill a normal human being, Intransience is less an
active defense, and more of an overall strengthening of the vampire’s immortal frame
and a bolstering of her resistance to the effects of pain. A shotgun blast that blows out
the vampire’s stomach may still cause the same amount of physical damage, but the
effect that it has on the kindred will be much less dramatic. In essence the vampire is
not less resistant to damage, she can just take a great deal more of it.
Beyond the simple toughening of the Kindred’s flesh, Intransience fortifies the
cursed connection between the vampire’s corpse and the stolen vitality in her veins.
Vampires with high levels of Intransience are capable of weathering injuries that would
send other vampires directly to their Final Deaths.
System: This Discipline grants the vampire an additional health level per dot. These
health levels are always active (there is no blood cost to access them), so whenever a
vampire takes damage, just mark off the appropriate damage level. These new health
levels should be written in on the character sheet (or the health track can be scribbled
on a separate piece of paper if need be). The health level received at each level is given
in italics, followed by its wound penalty.
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Health Level Penalty
Bruised OK
Bruised OK
Hurt -1
Battered -1
Injured -1
Beaten -1
Wounded -2
Lacerated -2
Mauled -2
Maimed -3
Crippled -5
Incapacitated Incapacitated
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• Toughness
A vampire with the basic level of Intransience is tougher and better able to withstand
physical pain. Relatively minor wounds no longer inflict more than mild discomfort.
System: The vampire gains an additional Bruised (OK) health level, permanently.
•• Durability
Moving beyond mere pain tolerance, a vampire with Durability is able to function
more fully while suffering from debilitating wounds. The physical damage to her body
may look serious, but the vampire shows little indication that the injuries are at all a
hindrance.
System: The vampire gains an additional health level, Battered (-1 penalty)
permanently. This health level is placed below Hurt. Battered characters are pretty beat
up, halving Dexterity (round down) when calculating running speed.
••• Solidity
Once the third level of this Intransience is attained, a vampire can literally withstand
torturous punishment without suffering more than a minor reduction in his physical
faculties. Gunshots, stab wounds and ghastly burns alike seem to impose little pain or
hindrance to her movement or physical activity.
System: The vampire gains an additional health level, Beaten (-1 penalty)
permanently, which is placed below Injured. A character who has been Beaten has
suffered moderate injuries, and cannot run (although she may still move at Jogging or
Walking speeds).
Additionally, a vampire with this level of Intransience is much harder to stun in
combat. The vampire is not considered stunned unless she suffers a number of health
levels of damage from a single attack equal to her Stamina + Intransience. Therefore a
vampire with Stamina 2 and Intransience 3 would only be stunned if she suffered 5 or
more health levels from a single attack.
•••• Indomitability
A vampire who has attained the Indomitability power is frightening to behold,
seemingly able to shrug off wounds that would cripple or paralyze a mortal. Being run
over by a car may physically weaken and impair a vampire with this level of
Intransience, but she may well brush herself off and walk away from such an
experience, albeit with a noticeable limp.
System: The vampire gains an additional health level, Lacerated (-2 penalty)
permanently. This health level is placed below Wounded. A Lacerated character is
seriously injured and can only walk with a limping gait (movement is restricted to 5
yards/meters per turn).
Additionally, a number of successes equal to the vampire’s Intransience rating are
now required on any damage roll intending to stake the vampire in combat.
••••• Imperviousness
The vampire may seem all but invincible to foes relying on conventional weapons.
An entire gang of ghouls could unload round after round of ammunition into the
vampire’s body, and probably only succeed in pissing her off. Bruises and minor
scratches heal over almost instantaneously with this level of Intransience.
System: The vampire gains an extra health level, Maimed (-3 penalty) permanently.
This health level is placed below Mauled. A Maimed character has been critically
wounded, and movement is restricted to 2 yards/meters per turn as the character drags
himself along, using nearby objects, furniture and architecture to support his weight.
In addition, any Lethal or Bashing attack that fails to reduce the vampire’s Health
Level below Bruised inflicts no damage whatsoever.
••••• • Inexorability
Those vampires who attain complete mastery of Intransience are nearly unkillable.
Such a Kindred is capable of entering a state halfway between Torpor and animation
that, while still leaving her vulnerable and defenseless, allows her to retain enough
cognizance to control her blood. A vampire in this languorous state is slightly more
conscious than torpid Kindred, being hazily aware of her surroundings much like a
mortal who is suffering a fitful sleep. She cannot act, speak or even move consciously,
but her body may occasionally show signs of rudimentary animation (such as twitching,
sudden muscular tension, eye movement, or even clumsy motions like fingers trying to
clasp).
System: The vampire permanently gains an extra health level, Languor, which is
placed just below Crippled. A vampire in Languor may expend blood points to heal
damage, even if she did not enter Languor through blood loss. She is also capable of
using blood for other purposes, including the utilization of Disciplines. A Willpower point
must be expended in the case of Disciplines, and her use of some powers may be
restricted or even impossible given her circumstances. A languorous vampire whose
eyelids remain open may use Dominate to command another character who stares
directly into her eyes, although unless some non-vocal means of communicating is
available (such as through Auspex), the vampire can, at best, whisper a Command (as
per the first level Dominate power). A vampire could use Earth Meld, as another
example, but could not move to reach open earth to do so. The storyteller is the final
arbiter of what powers are possible, given the circumstances of the vampire’s Languor.
••••• •• Unconquerable Vitality
Most vampires, when sent into Torpor from physical punishment, are teetering on
the brink of annihilation; even a slight injury can tip her irrevocably toward Final Death.
Those with the Unconquerable Vitality are able to reanimate after taking such
horrendous abuse. A vampire ravaged to this extent is injured so severely that the very
sight of her is enough to send mortals screaming in horror; flesh may have been flayed
back, limbs might be hanging on threads of tissue or sinew, or the body might be burnt
beyond all recognition, but as long as the vampire’s head and heart remain attached to
her corpse, she is not completely destroyed.
System: The vampire gains a permanent health level, Ravaged, which is placed
below Torpor. This unenviable state is much like Torpor, save that the vampire is
incapable even of the paltry activity allowed in Torpor. Even high level disciplines that
function while in Torpor are inaccessible to a Ravaged vampire.
However, a vampire Ravaged by excessive damage may arise in the same amount
of time (based on Humanity or Path rating) as a vampire in Torpor, arising at the
Crippled health level. Additionally, a vampire with Unconquerable Vitality who slips into
Torpor as a result of physical damage may expend blood points to heal the damage as
if she had become torpid through blood loss.
••••• ••• Corporeal Permanence
The vampire can persist beyond the point of physical dismemberment: even being
decapitated or rent asunder will not send the vampire to Final Death, although total
annihilation of the vampire’s physical form (being pulverized, burned to ashes by fire or
sunlight, or dissolved in acid, for example) or destruction of the vampire’s soul (such as
through diablierie, blood magic or astral combat) will still suffice.
System: The vampire gains a permanent health level, Dismembered, which is
placed below Ravaged. The vampire does not meet Final Death unless he suffers an
additional level of Aggravated damage below the Dismembered health level.
Dismembered vampires have had their bodies functionally destroyed, but enough of
the mass remains (so long as the vampire’s heart is still intact and enough of her head
remains in one piece to be recognizable) to allow them to regenerate… eventually,
provided they or their allies can somehow arrange for the body parts to be placed back
together in the correct order. A Dismembered vampire is aware of nothing, save for the
smell and taste of blood. Dismembered vampires do not dream, and cannot access
Disciplines.
A vampire with Corporeal Permanence who is decapitated is only considered
paralyzed, as if staked. She will still be cognitive, although unable to physically move or
talk. If her eyes were open, then she will be able to see, and her other senses remain
intact. If the vampire’s severed head is ever placed close enough to touch the stump of
her neck, then the head will begin to reattach itself, requiring 3 blood points. After the
reattachment, the vampire is considered to be at the Crippled health level.
••••• •••• Nex Non Exolvor
So long as the vampire’s blood remains undestroyed, she may reform her sundered
flesh anew, given enough time. A vampire in this horrendous state is little more than a
pile of gore, incapable of movement, thought or sensation, save for the methodical
reconstruction of her undead corpse from the liquefied remnants of her flesh.
System: The vampire gains a permanent health level, Pulverized, which is placed
below Dismembered on the health level track. A Pulverized vampire has been literally
rendered a mass of blood and loose tissue, which under normal circumstances would
quickly disintegrate into ashes (provided the vampire is of excessive age). Through her
mastery of Intransience, the vampire remains undead in this wretched state, but is
incapable of activity of any sort beyond waiting for her body to reconstruct.
The vampire’s corporeal resurrection requires an amount of time dependent on the
number of blood points in her blood pool at the time she is Pulverized:
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Blood Points Time needed for reconstruction of the vampire’s corpse
1-5 A millenniuma
6-10 A century
11-20 A decade
21-50 A year
51+ A month
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Feeding the vampire blood (once she has reconstituted enough to physically imbibe
or otherwise absorb the blood, storyteller’s discretion) can shorten the time required to
resurrect; a vampire who is Pulverized with 25 blood points in her blood pool would
normally take a year to reconstitute, but if her blood pool could be increased to 51
during that time, she could reduce the necessary time to one month.
The vampire’s body gradually reconstitutes over the indicated amount of time. Once
this time has elapsed, the vampire is considered to be in Torpor, and must wait an
additional amount of time as dictated by her Humanity before awakening. She loses all
but one of her blood points from her blood pool.
If a vampire who has been Dismembered suffers any additional health levels of
aggravated damage while her blood pool is empty, she suffers the Final Death; Nex
Non Exolvor requires at least one blood point remaining in the vampire’s blood pool in
order to be effective. Additionally, if a Pulverized vampire suffers any aggravated
damage (such as from exposure to sunlight or fire, or being consumed in an especially
sickening act of diablerie) she is slain irrevocably, although at this point the vampire is
thankfully immune to further Lethal and Bashing damage.
Ghouls and Intransience
Ghouls may possess this discipline, but because of the natural healing ability of all
mortals, storytellers and players may need to know how long it takes these levels to
naturally heal. Consult the table below.
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Healing Time
Health Level Bashing Lethal
Bruised (OK) One Hour One Day
Battered (-1) One Hour Five Days
Beaten (-1) One Hour Two Weeks
Lacerated (-2) Two Hours Six Weeks
Maimed (-3) Four Hours Ten Weeks
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So a very potent Ghoul who somehow managed to get his hands on ancient blood
AND raise his level in Intransience to 5 would have the following healing times:
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Health Level Bashing Lethal
Bruised (OK) 1 Hour 1 Day
Bruised (OK) 1 Hour 1 Day
Hurt (-1) 1 Hour 3 Days
Battered (-1) 1 Hour 5 Days
Injured (-1) 1 Hour 1 Week
Beaten (-1) 1 Hour 2 Weeks
Wounded (-2) 1 Hour 1 Month
Lacerated (-2) 2 Hours 6 Weeks
Mauled (-2) 3 Hours 2 Month
Maimed (-3) 4 Hours 10 Weeks
Crippled (-5) 6 Hours 3 Months
Incapacitated (Inc) 12 Hours 5 Months
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